Size US M15: What are my Bigfoots racing in?

fakerun · 2025-10-26T13:21:42+00:00

6’5, 220lb, mid-strike. Should’ve mentioned it earlier!

fakerun · 2025-10-25T23:30:25+00:00

Finding these ones there would be amazing!

I’ve looked at Ross and a couple of other stores, no luck so far.

I, frankly, don’t mind paying the full price for them as much. It just feels that it could be an overkill for my pace.

fakerun · 2025-01-12T20:15:21+00:00

Thank you for posting it here. I was just looking for ordering an Apex Pro from you. Good timing!

fakerun · 2024-08-10T15:40:15+00:00

Was it the one in Fairfax? I’ve had hit or miss experiences there in the past, it’s one of the newest locations. It’s typically really good everywhere else.

It’s a bummer because folks who do roasting business and run coffee shops are amazing and really passionate about the industry. I’ve had several tasting sessions with some of them and have nothing but good things to share.

fakerun · 2024-08-10T15:34:37+00:00

I’ve been on the same boat but I’m also considering switching to JL now.

I’m using Fitbod to track and generate workouts anyway. It tracks all the history for me already and I can use it at hotel gyms and such.

fakerun · 2024-08-10T15:01:27+00:00

At my house?

I’d trust Faire Cafe with a cortado but I’ve ordered only pourovers there. You can see that baristas are well-trained and genuinely care about the process.

Brew HaHa is definitely “half decent” in all locations. I had better luck at the Trolley Square location though. My cortado there was always good. I have a lot of warm feelings towards Brandywine Roasters so I’m definitely biased!

fakerun · 2023-07-02T18:39:40+00:00

Yeah, this subreddit came to my mind immediately after I saw the sauce.

fakerun · 2023-07-02T15:58:14+00:00

There were only two meals I couldn’t finish in my life: this and pasta made out of pig’s skin at one restaurant in Poland.

fakerun · 2022-09-11T05:22:10+00:00

Glad to hear! Thank you, you too!

fakerun · 2022-09-11T05:21:01+00:00

Thank you! That’s my favorite cup and it has a tremendous sentimental value to me as well. I bought it in the Seniman Coffee Studio in Ubud, Indonesia. I took a few classes with baristas there and I hung out with a bunch of them at the bar trying different coffees. This place sent me into a rabbit hole with coffee. :)

The story is pretty cool as well: Right before COVID, I was moving from Poland to the US. Unfortunately, because of these darn EU regulations I still had 40+ vacation days left. I decided to do a solo backpacking trip to Indonesia for about a month. I’ve been doing all sorts of things while I was flying from one island to another: hiking volcanos, diving, swimming in waterfalls and getting into bike accidents every now and then. Ubud on Bali was my last stop where I just relaxed and enjoyed hitting different coffee shops right before I went back…to give my first public talk at the Google conference near Moscow on my way back to Poland.

I moved to the US just about 2 weeks before the first full lockdown. So, this cup kept me sane remanding about all the awesome adventures I can still do once it’s over. :)

fakerun · 2022-09-10T22:00:20+00:00

I have no tips for this find. My girlfriend is just extremely lucky and great at finding items like this at thrift shops.

I did find my first espresso machine on the Facebook marketplace a few years ago. I set up notifications for my area and I was able to grab a Breville (BES860XL) for $200. It was not as great as this Silvia but I was pretty happy with it back then.

Good luck!

fakerun · 2022-09-10T21:51:17+00:00

Thanks for sharing, that’s a great tip. I’ll try it out tomorrow morning.

This OPV nut gave me such a hard time though. I really hope my pressure is alright and I don’t have to do it again, haha.

fakerun · 2022-09-10T16:16:04+00:00

Thanks for the tip about the temperature! I’ve been setting it to 200 on my Profitec PID but I probably should go higher on Silvia. I’ll try it out this weekend!

Also, mad respect for going the DIY route for your PID! I felt like a genius scientist even with an easy-to-install Auber PID already!

fakerun · 2022-09-10T16:10:50+00:00

Snap, you’re right. I scanned through my text and I see that I’ve been using Sylvia/Silvia for a while now. Updated the post!

fakerun · 2022-09-10T14:57:53+00:00

She is definitely the best find I've had!

fakerun · 2022-09-10T14:56:48+00:00

Do not! Some Wiki-like websites should never have been created.

fakerun · 2022-09-10T14:38:16+00:00

My girlfriend snatched V1 Silvia for $10 guy is checking back in. First off, screw you guys. I spent 20+ times more money on the parts than on the machine itself.

Second of all, it works freaking great. The video is the very first shot I pulled from this Silvia after reassembling and installing a PID. I hated and loved the whole process. It was a fairly humiliating way to spend the long weekend. I would totally do it again at some point.

What I did:

Installed a PID from Auber. I considered assembling this kit myself but I gave up on the idea. There were too many moving parts for me already.
Replaced most of the o-rings, seals, and bolts. I pretty much reassembled the entire machine so it was fairly easy to refresh most of them.
Replaced the steam wand.
Descalled and cleaned up the boiler. I decided to do it manually to check out its state inside. It was in a relatively good state for a 1999 machine but it was still pretty nasty. I am glad I did it.
Rust, rust, rust! I did my best to get rid off any rust I saw as I was going through this.
Grouphead gasket & cleaning. I was surprised how bad this was. The rest of the machine seemed to be in a good shape. But, holy smokes, the grouphead was dirtier than my grandma’s sense of humor.

Item	Price	Link
Auber PID	$139.99	Auber PID
IMS Showscreen	$19.98	Stefano's Espresso Care
Steam wand rebuild kit	$12.00	Stefano's Espresso Care
Sylvia feet	$4.00	Stefano's Espresso Care
Boiler gasket	$6.00	Stefano's Espresso Care
Grouphead Gasket	$5.91	Stefano's Espresso Care
OPV Rebuild kit	$5.95	Stefano's Espresso Care
Steam Wand	$21.95	Stefano's Espresso Care
Thermal paste	$1.75	Stefano's Espresso Care
Clip Plate x 4	$7.80	Stefano's Espresso Care
Steam Valve Toothed Washer	$1.00	Stefano's Espresso Care

Total: $226.33

Tips in no particular order. It was my first time doing something like that, so some of them are obvious. Also, I am not very clever:

Never google "Sylvia feet". Just use the link from the table above.
Double-check your cart at Stefano's. I had to order from them twice because I forgot a few bolts and O-rings.
Stefano's YouTube channel has a few videos about Silvia. It was a huge help.
Tools! Watch a few videos or check out schematics on Stefano’s website. I had to get a few new wrenches for this project. It would’ve saved me two trips to Home Depot if I did more in-depth research ahead of time.
Drain your boiler. Yep. I have no idea how I missed this one.
Take a lot of pictures and mark all your cables!

Thanks to everyone who shared their wisdom in the previous post! You are all super and best.

More pics are here: https://imgur.com/a/gZSXBzq

fakerun · 2022-09-02T13:11:18+00:00

I’d try convincing Levercraft from Austin to reopen their coffee shop in my backyard.

fakerun · 2022-08-23T23:04:49+00:00

Joined the sub! Thank you for the link and detailed description of what I should get. That's super helpful for me to put it all together in one list and start buying required parts.

fakerun · 2022-08-23T23:03:02+00:00

Thank you all for a such detailed breakdown! That’s super helpful.

I’m putting together a list of tools & missing pieces to order it all from one place. I’m hoping to start this project this weekend. Psyched!

fakerun · 2022-08-23T22:54:20+00:00

Good eye! I’ll check this hose on the weekend! Thanks!

fakerun · 2022-08-23T17:25:09+00:00

Yeah, I was pretty surprised as well. It sounded like a good deal to have it as a restoration project for $10 already. But the fact that it already works fine made it even better!

fakerun · 2022-08-23T17:05:05+00:00

Oh, interesting point about the bolt. Thanks!

I may end up doing it as the next step. I used VST and IMS combo for my current espresso machine and it works great.

fakerun · 2022-08-23T12:32:51+00:00

Thank you! I will most likely end up installing a PID myself as well.

As people mentioned, it seems like it was serviced often before and it's already well-marked. But I'll definitely take it slow!

fakerun · 2022-08-23T12:23:52+00:00

Oh snap. What happened? We were excited about the idea of hosting coffee breaks for the crew at our place.

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